The Face Of Wrath (5)

"You're only proving my point. You understand that, right?" Jezabel doesn't move; her bloodshot eyes are trying to pierce through me. I ignore the blade at my neck and keep pressing. "Let me guess, you don't like doing what you're told? You want to forge your own path? I'd like to see how murdering the child of a noble will fit into that plan. Better yet, why don't you just quit? You clearly hate it here."

Jezabel presses the blade deeper into my neck. I can feel a trickle of warm blood snaking its way down my neck, but more than anything, I just feel pissed. An agonized rage is pooling at the base of my stomach like I've never felt before.

"Stop it!" Josh pulls out his sword and takes a stance. His demand falls on deaf ears as Jezabel remains at my throat.

A few more tense moments pass before Jezabel retracts her blade. She turns to Josh, "Come to class an hour early tomorrow. You're the first to pull a blade on me in years."

"If you try to hurt my friends, I won't hold back." I can see the abject horror on his face. He's so afraid. Tears are pouring down his cheeks, but he stands his ground. Jezabel ignores his courage and approaches.

"I've always hated cowards. I'll start training you tomorrow; maybe some of your bravery will rub off on your friend there." She pushes his blade down with the tip of her finger. Josh strains to resist, but he's no match for her. "Understand?"

"Don't touch him!" Sakura's voice erupts from behind Josh. "If you lay one finger on him, I'll rip you to shreds!"

Jezabel smiles at Sakura as she peaks over Josh's shoulder. Sakura is bearing her teeth, and every muscle in her body is tensed. Her body looks noticeably bigger than normal. We've been working out together for a while now, but I haven't noticed anything like this before. On top of that, it almost looks like her eyes are glowing red. Jezabel breaks the tension with a laugh that starts soft but slowly builds.

"Ha, haha, Haahaha, HA, HAHAHA, AAHAHAHAHHAAHA!"

Jezabel takes a step back and holds her stomach. Everyone in the guildhall is watching in stunned silence. This person they have never seen smiling is rolling with laughter. Jezabel falls onto a table as she struggles to control herself.

"AHAHAHHHAA, AHAh, haha."

As her howling laughter calms down, she wipes tears away from her eyes.

"Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in years. You're quite the rambunctious little shits. Unfortunately for you, I like rambunctious. Things have been too quiet around here. All three of you, meet me at the guildhall an hour before class. We'll have a short training session."

"If you're going to kill us, you can just do it now," I respond snarkily.

"You, you're gonna get it the worst. If you don't show up, I'll kick you three out of the guild."

"You can't do that!" Sakura shouts.

"Who's gonna stop me? I'm the Guild Master." Jezabel says as she spreads her arms in the air. She walks to the back room without saying anything else. A low murmur fills the hall until things start to return to normal.

[What the fuck was that?]

My emotions begin to cool after she leaves, and I realize how crazy I am to press her. The terror of hindsight brings cold sweat to the surface of my skin.

"Are we going tomorrow, Nick?" Josh looks at me with fear in his eyes.

"I don't think we have much of a choice."

"But what if she kills us?"

"She had the opportunity to kill us today and didn't take it, so I think we're good."

"That's what you said last time," Sakura objects. The rage on her face has been replaced with concern.

"I know, and we're still alive, aren't we?"

"Nick, you can't say that!" Sakura pleads with me. I can see the desperation in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I just got really angry. I don't know what came over me."

"Here, don't move." Shelly walks up with a cloth and places it on my neck. The trickle of blood has reached my collar and left a stain. Shelley looks very worried as well.

"Was I that out of line?" Seeing the looks on peoples' faces makes me rethink my behavior.

"You certainly went out of your way to make her angry."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. She's holding a lot in."

"That doesn't give you the right to pry into other people's business."

"But she was taking it out on everyone."

"She's the guild master."

"That doesn't mean she can just casually hurt people."

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Shelly pulls away from me. I can tell she's taken aback by what I said.

[I should pull back. I need to keep in mind that this is a feudal society. Might makes right. This is the same conversation I had with Josh a few weeks ago. I have no right to berate someone in her position; there is no proper judicial system in town.]

"Well then, I'll just get stronger." Shelly smiles at my naive proclamation.

"When you grow up, maybe you can change things. Why don't you go home for today? The guild master is expecting you bright and early tomorrow."

"You're right." We divide up our spoils, and I give the two remaining coins to the kids as always. I get up to leave, and the kids follow behind me. It's a very silent walk out of the building, and they only quietly say goodbye to me as we split up. I review how everything went down in my mind.

[I feel really guilty for putting them in that situation. I should take that into account before I decide to confront people. That being said, she was clearly looking for a fight. The situation might have escalated even if I had tried to brush it off. Abusers often rely on inconsistent behavior to throw off their victims, but she seems to behave the same way at all times. Is it a superiority complex or some kind of trauma that drives her? She's clearly been through a lot, but I can't be sure what it is unless she tells me.]

A tempest storms within my head as I walk home. I decide to check my status, and it's then that I see my hp has decreased by about half. I'm a bit surprised that it dropped so much, but she was cutting at my neck. I realize that I need to take this into account

[How have my actions impacted our future? What could I have done differently? Why do I feel the need to fight the common sense of this world? I strongly feel that these principles are wrong; power shouldn't be what decides right and wrong. We should have a more consistent moral system in our society, but the idea of moral universalism is completely foreign to these people. Modern people understand that our laws should apply equally to everyone, and we shouldn't construct our moral system around the people at the top. The first moral system, the code of Hammurabi, was built to favor those of higher classes. The punishment for the wealthy for breaking laws was much less severe than for the poor. We would find this practice abhorrent in my old world, but the people here may see this as common sense. I can't just force my beliefs on others even if I think I'm right. Imbalances in law such as this usually occur because the society is much less stable than a modern state. If a ruler lays out punishments to the point that they can no longer control the system properly, the entire society can collapse. It's a necessary evil to allow nobles more freedom in exchange for stability. If Jezabel is in a position of power, then she should be given more leniency.]

I hardly notice my home surrounding and work through these thoughts as I eat. I hardly hear anything my parents say as I finish. After clearing my plate, I go to my room and wallow in myself until the comfort of sleep overtakes me.